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THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 



[Reprinted from The Psychological^ Review, Vol. IV, No. i, Jan., 1917.] 



TRANSLATION 

THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 1 

By Dr. Wilhelm Stekel 
Translated by John Edward Lind, M.D. 

" Aristotle says somewhere : ' When we are awake we have a universal 
world, when we dream, then everyone has his own particular one.' I think 
this last sentence should be turned around and we should say: If each one of 
different men has his own particular world, then it is to be presumed that 
they dream." — Kant. 

One who has read my long array of chapters carefully could be 
easily led to believe that he is a finished interpreter of dreams and 
has become a complete master of this new science. Now I have 
gone to a great deal of pains to perfect the understanding of sym- 
bolism according to our modern standards of knowledge. But with 
the knowledge of symbolism everything is not yet accomplished. 
To be sure there are dreams which are so simple that one can trans- 
late them without the assistance of the dreamer. But these dreams 
have also their overdetermination, their individual meanings, which 
cannot be discovered without the active aid of the dreamer. The 
longer one works with a person, the more intimately one gets to 
know him. So that without knowledge of the dream material one 
can often discover two or even more meanings. One can see through 
many dreams at the first glance. Yet now and then even the most 
skilful dream interpreter will meet dreams which remain a mystery 
to him. It is necessary to have the help of the dreamer. 

The usual method of dream interpretation is the one laid down 
by Freud. We must record the ideas of the dreamer scrupulously 
and keep our own to ourselves. So we have the dream told to us. It 
is advantageous to have this recital made a second time. As Freud 
justly emphasizes, the variations from the first recital are very im- 
portant. They contain the places which have been subjected to the 
greatest repression. Now and then the repetition coincides exactly. 
We begin then with the interpretation. 

1 Chapter XL VII, from his book, " Die Sprache des Traumes," published 
by J. F. Bergmann, 191 1. Translated with the consent of the author. 






THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 85 

We ask the dreamer, what occurs to him in connection with the 
dream. If he is a novice, he will invariably reply : " Nothing at all. 
What should occur to me?" We then insist that the dream must 
suggest occurrences. If the resistance or the lack of understanding 
is considerable, the dreamer will still insist that nothing occurs 
to him. 

Now there are various aids, nevertheless, to get him to talk. We 
ask him of what actual experience the dream reminds him. About 
this most people have some idea. They regard the dream as the 
distorted reproduction of various experiences and are quite willing 
to offer these. Then one observes that the presentation of the 
dream has altered or falsified the experience, that strange elements 
have insinuated themselves — and thus come unawares into the anal- 
ysis. Or one asks, what meaning for the life of the dreamer this or 
that person occurring in the dream has, and thus brings the dreamer 
to speech. As a rule he then speaks on and reveals his suppressed 
material. 

We will endeavor to represent the course of such a dream anal- 
ysis and we choose for our paradigm a rather difficult theme. It 
concerns a man about forty years old who does not believe in the 
interpretation of dreams and relates a dream to me. I request him 
to write down the dream, which he does. The two versions do not 
differ materially. 

The dream is peculiar enough. It permits of no interpretation 
with the aid of our symbolism. We are dependent upon the good 
will of the dreamer. Listen, then, to the dream picture of one P. F. 

The Dream of the Dent 

"I tell a mechanic to give me my wife's bicycle. As I look at it 
I notice that it has a large dent. I push it into the workshop. 
There are a number of workmen who stand at tables like composi- 
tors. One, a friendly young man, asks me what I want. 

" Then I discuss the German Kaiser. ' He is an energetic, vigor- 
ous man,' I say to my companion. High above stands the Kaiser 
Franz Josef. ' You can say what you like,' I remark, ' Our Kaiser 
is a dear old man.' My companion agrees. 

"Before or after: Two women, scantily clad, are lying on the 
floor. The one older, the other younger. I wonder at the perfect 
development of the younger one and say to the older woman: ' You 
are indeed well-informed, too. But these perfect legs! ' At that my 
gaze wanders to the legs of the old woman which were almost Her- 
culean in build and covered with fine hair." 



86 WILHELM STEKEL 

I acquaint the dreamer with the method of dream work and say : 
" Close your eyes, so that your attention is not distracted by the 
outer world. Tell me all the thoughts that are passing through 
your head." 

P. F. : " Nothing is passing through my head." 

"That is impossible. Our brain works constantly. You must 
be thinking of something." 

P. F. : "Well, then, I am just thinking about the dream." 

" What do you think of the dream ? " 

P. F. : " That it is nonsense. How anyone can dream such stuff ! 
Absurd." 

"What is absurd?" 

P. F. : " The whole dream is absurd. The business about the 
bicycle, about the two kaisers, Wilhelm and Franz Josef, and the 
affair of the two women." 

" Of whom do the two women remind you?" 

P. F. : " Of no one. They were strangers, women entirely un- 
known to me." 

" Have you made a remark to any person about the shape ? To 
any woman ? " 

P. F. : " Not that I remember. Wait — something occurs to me 
I was at the seashore. It certainly was a seeshore. One saw many 
strikingly beautiful women there. There I saw one, not so good 
looking, but rather flirtatious, a tempting sort of a person. She 
was lying on the sand and winked across at me, although her hus- 
band was lying by her and whispering little pet names to her. I 
was struck with her well-developed, Herculean limbs. She aroused 
my passion. I thought, ' One could start something with her.' " 

" Which of the two women of the dream was it ? " 

P. F. : " The older. She had those astonishing, perhaps some 
what too muscular thighs. For the size of the woman her legs were 
much too big. . . ." 

" And what occurs to you about the younger woman ? " 

P. F. : Is silent a long time and then says, hesitatingly, " No one ! " 

"You say that so dubiously, that I can imagine that someone 
does occur to you." 

P. F. : " No ! No ! Positively no one ! " 

" Maybe so ! Be sure you speak frankly ! " 

P. F. : " Someone does occur to me. But I do not believe that 
she belongs in this. She has nothing to do with the dream." 

"We shall see about that. Now will you have the goodness to 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 87 

tell me what occurs toj^ou? Or will you abandon the interpretation 
of the dream ? " 

P. F. : " By no means ! Although I do not believe in it. So 
listen : It has to do with my mistress. For several years past I have 
had an affair with a widow. She has one daughter, fourteen years 
old, as yet an innocent child. I said to the mother recently : ' Mizzi 
is splendidly proportioned. She will have a beautiful shape one of 
these days.' " 

" And how is the mother proportioned ? " 

P. F. : " Very large and sensual. She is a splendid specimen of 
a woman. Everyone is envious of me." 

" Is this lady conspicuously hairy ? " 

P. F. : " No ! Quite the contrary ! She has a snow-white, fault- 
less body. She is constantly boasting about her complexion and her 
skin, saying, ' I have never had a pimple on my body.' Quite dif- 
ferent from me. I am terribly hairy." 

" And the pimples. . . ." 

P. F. : " Well, you know my old trouble. Since I have recovered 
from the syphilis, I fear that every pimple might be a relapse. I suffer 
very much from a skin eruption. The doctors always say, ' A harm- 
less rash : Acne.' I worry nevertheless. An incident of my youth 
now occurs to me. I was still quite small when my father took me 
with him to a Turkish bath. There was a masseur who was covered 
all over with pimples. I heard my father remonstrate with the 
manager of the baths and seemed to hear something about 'con- 
tagious ' and ' disgusting.' The manager said, ' That doesn't amount 
to anything. It is a harmless rash. The man has too much unused 
vigor.' . . . But has that anything to do with the dream? . . ." 

" Perhaps so. . . . But what about this unused vigor ? " 

P. F. : " In confidence ; I have still another mistress. My cham- 
bermaid, a fine woman, but awfully passionate. She makes de- 
mands on me which I cannot satisfy. To be sure, if I were 
younger." 

" So you feel old, then ? Why, you are a man in the prime of 
life. . . ." 

P. F. : " Yes, but in spite of that, I seem old to myself. Just 
look — my immense bald spot. Not a hair on my bald pate. My 
teeth are loose. My vitality is decreasing. I cannot do as much 
work as formerly. . . ." 

Then there came a long pause. One would say that the riddles 
of the dream are not yet solved. Nothing in the last part about the 



» » ■■ * ■ 






88 WILHELM STEKEL 

old and the young women. Yet we notice that we have stumbled 
upon a sensitive place in the inmost mind of Mr. P. F. Like all 
mankind, he would gladly be young again. But there must be a 
definite reason for this, which is concealed in the dream. The hair 
which he has lost adorns his mistress in order to make it less desir- 
able. Something else now occurs to the dreamer about the hair. 

P. F. : " That is a curious thing about the hair. My mistress has 
a little moustache. She often says to me, ' Strange, where it does 
not belong, there you cannot get rid of hair, but where it does belong 
it falls out.' " 

"Does anything occur to you in connection ; with' the subject 
'hairy'?" 

P. F. : "I love beautiful blonde hair. Mizzi, the daughter of 
my mistress, has beautiful, golden hair that she always wears loose. 
She also has a hairy birthmark." 

" How do you know that ? " 

P. F. : " Her mother showed it to me. It is on the upper part 
of the thigh. The mother asked me what she could do about it, if 
she should go to a skin specialist, a beauty doctor. I said 'What 
for? One does not uncover that part of the body,' and at that the 
mother and Mizzi laughed very much." 

" Was that the end of the incident ? " 

P. F. : " Practically, yes, only later the mother said, ' You never 
can tell but what Mizzi might not some time have to uncover herself. 
It disfigures the girl.' I protested at this and argued that such a 
small birthmark was on the contrary rather piquant. With that the 
incident was closed." 

" It does not appear, however, to be closed, for you have dreamed 
about it. You have attributed the ugly hair to the mother in order 
to make the younger one, the daughter, appear without a blemish." 

P. F. : " Why, that is nonsense. What have I to do with the 
little girl. She will soon belong to another." 

He says this almost in a tone of regret. Then he continues : 

P. F. : " I admit this much to you, that the view of the uncovered 
thigh of Mizzi made a certain impression on me. I am especially 
fond, as a rule, of the tender, half developed creature. Fidus ges- 
talten — Do you know ' Ahasver in Rome ' by Hammerling. The 
scene in which the immature young girl, I think about thirteen or 
fourteen years old, is robbed of her virtue, made a great impres- 
sion on me. I value that work very highly and read it with great 
enjoyment. . . ." 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 89 

Here the beginning of a perversion reveals itself : the love of 
children. But listen to the further associations. I ask what next 
occurs to him, especially about the mistress. " She must certainly 
be a well-developed woman of middle age ? " 

P. F. : " You're right, she is not my style ; she is too coarse for 
me. Then, too, she has a fault; she has, since the birth of her 
daughter, suffered from a large perineal tear." 

" Do you know that that is represented in the dream ? " 

P. F.: "Where?" 

" You give the bicycle of your wife to be repaired of a dent? " 

P. F. : " Yes, but the mistress is not my wife ; I have been di- 
vorced from her these many years." 

" That means — now the mistress is your wife ; she replaces your 
wife. Isn't that so ? " 

P. S. : " Yes, that is so, and furthermore I have advised her to 
have an operation. Doctor Fleischmann (a gynecologist in Vienna) 
has told her ' Nothing but an operation will help you.' I made a 
joke about it and said, ' It is only a little repair work, go into a sani- 
torium, and let them mend the hole for you.' " 

Here the first analysis was ended. It consumed a whole hour. 
Next day we began again. We took as the theme : The dent. 

P. F. : " You probably know what a dent means — a bent, useless 
wheel. After a collision or a heavy fall a wheel loses its beautiful, 
circular shape. ... It receives a dent. In past years I have trav- 
eled a great deal on a wheel. So have my mistress and her daughter. 
My mistress had, as a matter of fact, at one time a dent." 

"Doesn't the connection occur to you between the last part of 
the dream and the bent wheel? A patched-up hole — a patched-up 
wheel." 

P. F. : " Yes, it is astonishing. I have alluded to every mistress 
as a wheel. I have now a new wheel, means a new mistress. My 
wife, the real one, from whom I have been divorced, had a wheel 
too much in her head. 

" It had the appearance as if I were busy in the dream with old 
bicycles, when I would rather have new, perfect wheels. I am, to 
be sure, a Don Juan ; I would like to have a new mistress every week. 
Best of all an untouched young — " 

" What occurs to you about the mechanic ? " 

P. F. : "A man by the name of Schlager ; although he certainly 
occurs to me, it is a mystery why. He is employed in a printing 
office as a manager. I have not seen him for many years. At one 



90 WILHELM STEKEL 

time, I read proof on various printed matter and had recourse to 
him." 

" It deals with the correction of a fault. Then it agrees." 

P. F. : " But something else agrees. I have been waiting a long 
time now for a 'Schlager' (theatrical success or 'hit'); my last 
pieces have not made a hit. I have now finished two pieces for the 
theater. I hope that one will be a success. Then the word Schlager 
has an association with my wife. I discovered her in an act of 
infidelity and struck her in anger, so that I was in reality a ' Schlager ' 
(one who strikes). I subsequently regretted it very much. . . ." 

" That was, then, the reason for the divorce ? " 

P. F. : "If that had but been the only reason. As I found out 
later, my wife had a number of lovers, who, so to speak, had ' worked 
with her.' She was a practised hussy." 

" Do you not remember the part of the dream, ' There are a 
number of workmen who stand at tables like compositors ? ' " 

P. F. : " Yes, I see now, that represents all the people who have 
worked with her." 

" Who, then, is the friendly young man ? " 

P. F. : " He reminds me of my son, — wait — a scene now appears 
to me : Once when I left my wife in anger, the boy said, ' What do 
you want with mamma ? ' I often think of this occurrence. Once 
the boy said, ' If you take me away from mamma, I will die.' His 
mother had taught him to say that. For he is well contented now 
with his governess and does not want to see his mother. Before 
many years I am going to marry again. I am a Catholic. A Cath- 
olic marriage in Austria is only dissolved by death. . . ." 

"You want to risk the experiment of matrimony once more, 
then?" 

P. F. : " Yes, it was a charming young girl. I was passionately 
in love with her, yet out of regard for my children I gave up the 
project. At that time my wife was very sick, her life was despaired 
of. I confess to you, that I wished in a corner of my soul she might 
die. Then I could have married the young girl." 

" Do you entertain similar wishes now about your mistress ? " 

P. F. : " Very candidly, yes ; I can get rid of them only with diffi- 
culty. When I spoke of the operation for the perineal tear, the case 
of a friend who lost his wife by this innocent operation came cu- 
riously enough to my mind." 

"It is as if the dream wanted to compare the mother and 
daughter and wished to say : ' The daughter is much prettier. If 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 91 

the mother dies, you can start something with the daughter.' And 
the blow?" 

P. F. : " Is perhaps the heavy blow, which should happen to me, 
the death of the loved one. Moreover — her father died a year ago 
from apoplexy" (Herzschlag). 

" Therefore, the mechanic, who will make everything right, who 
only can dissolve the Catholic marriage, is death." 

P. F. : "I am very much interested in death. I occupy myself 
a great deal with thoughts of death, even in regard to my children. 
Often I picture them as an encumbrance. Such a brutal egoist is 
the human being. I, to picture myself a hypochondriac ! Yet I am 
enough of a philosopher not to get any gray hair about it." 

" The friendly young man in the dream, your son, represents the 
virtuous opposition of your inmost mind. He asks you, what you 
wish." 

P. F. : " Yes, as if he would say : ' Old donkey, haven't you done 
enough foolishness in your life?'" 

" One section of the dream we haven't yet cleared up, the part 
about the two kaisers." 

P. F. : "I saw our Kaiser last year several times. The remark, 
which the dream contains, has been made to me by someone or other. 
By whom? . . ." 

Here the dreamer stops. There come no other reminiscences. 
A great opposition makes every further interpretation impossible. 
We therefore stop the interpretation. 

" The meaning of a dream," says Freud, " does not reveal itself 
always at once, not infrequently one finds his resources (capacity for 
work) exhausted when he is following a chain of associations. The 
dream says nothing more on that day, then it is well to stop and 
return to work the next day. Then another part of the dream 
claims the attention and one finds the way to a new layer of dream 
thoughts. This may be called the ' fractional ' dream interpreta- 
tion." (T. D., 322.) 

On the third day he came again and showed that he had not cor- 
rectly given the part about the Kaiser. He did not find the right 
impression there. In any case it did not happen in the dream the 
way he told it to me. 

This doubt also 2 belongs to the dream material. It has to do 
with an important, suppressed complex. 

2 " The doubt concerning the correct representation of the dream, or of 
its individual data, is again only an offshoot of the dream censor — that is, of 
the resistance against penetration to consciousness of the dream thoughts. 



92 WILHELM STEKEL 

At the next sitting the dreamer is very reticent. For a long- time 
he has very few associations until I call his attention to a circum- 
stance. The whole dream concerns the contrast of youth and age. 
The old mechanic — the young workman. The old wheel — the new 
wheel. The old mistress — the young daughter. The old Kaiser, 
Franz Josef — the young Kaiser, Wilhelm. 

P. F. : " You are right. The contrast is striking. As if the old 
Kaiser should represent the old mistress and Kaiser Wilhelm the 
young daughter. Now something occurs to me. I had some crazy 
thoughts a few days ago. If I were younger, I could marry the 
daughter of my mistress. Then I thought : ' You old donkey. She 
would have the horns placed on you then.' And then I thought: 
' You could make the young one your mistress.' But yet I have pity 
for my ' old one.' You can say what you like, she is still a good 
fellow." 

" Do you not notice that you have used the same expression in 
the dream ? ' You can say what you like, . . ., etc. ? ' " 

P. F. : " Sure enough ! You are right. Still I beg of you what 
could I do with the young one? It would be the same with me as 
with my father." 

" How do you mean ? " 

P. F. : " My father was already an old man, when he took my 
mother home. Everyone talked about it. In confidence, I am sup- 
posed to be the son of a cousin of my mother. . . ." 

This resistance has not entirely exhausted itself in bringing about the dis- 
placements and substitutions,, and it therefore adheres as doubt to what has 
been allowed to pass through. We can recognize this doubt all the easier 
through the fact that it takes care not to attach the intensive elements of the 
dream, but only the weak and indistinct ones. For we already know that a 
transvaluation of all the psychic values has taken place between the dream 
thoughts and the dream. The disfigurement has been made possible only by 
the alteration of values; it regularly manifests itself in this way and occa- 
sionally content's itself with this. If doubt attaches itself to an indistinct 
element of the dream content, we may, following the hint, recognize in this 
element a direct offshoot of one of the outlawed dream thoughts. It is here 
just as it was after a great revolution in one of the republics of antiquity or 
of the Renaissance. The former noble and powerful ruling families are now 
banished ; all high positions are filled by upstarts ; in the city itself only the 
very poor and powerless citizens or the distant followers of the vanquished 
party are tolerated. Even they do not enjoy the full rights of citizenship. 
They are suspiciously watched. Instead of the suspicion in the comparison, 
we have in our case the doubt." The Interpretation of Dreams, page 409. 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 93 

" Whose name is Wilhelm. . . ." 

P. F. : " How do you know that ? " 

" I have only mentioned it incidentally, because the younger 
Kaiser is called 'Wilhelm.' " 

P. F. : " Marvelous ! He also was called Wilhelm ; he is dead, 
and my father's name was Franz. 

" Then you have had two fathers ? " 

P. F. : " Curiously enough, yes. For Wilhelm left me his whole 
fortune after his death. To him I owe my whole existence in every 
sense." 

Now is the opposition explained. It concerns a taint of his 
mother. The two kaisers are the two fathers. The dear old man — 
his impotent father. " You can say what you like," the people are 
talking about it. The energetic, vigorous man is his own father. 
The relation between young and old is a constellation from youth. 
He indentifies himself with his mother. He might also have the 
young one after the old. 

The dream still contains a number of puzzles. Especially in the 
second part a companion appears, who agrees. " Of whom does the 
companion remind you ? " 

P. F. : " No one." 

" You are beginning again. Some one will soon come to you." 

P. F. : " Yes, — a Dr. Spiegelglas, who died a long time ago. He 
was small, bald-headed, had goggle eyes, glasses and hideous rat- ' 
like teeth. We named him after a Roman figure by Arne Geborg, 
the ' Death of Lubeck.' " 

" In other words : The companion is death. The hidden sense of 
the dream is then this, death might remove your mistress and your 
wife in order that you can marry the young one. Also the striker 
(Schlager) was death." ("The stroke shall attack them" 3 is in- 
deed a familiar curse.) 

P. F. : " My mistress is very fat and said lately, ' I will certainly 
die soon of apoplexy ' " (Herzschlag). 

Now I shall conclude the analysis in this form. The relations of 
this dream to the infantile are of many kinds. He believes he has 
reason to think that his mother could scarcely wait for his nominal 
father to die. In short, it appears to be the typical family story, 
this time with a real foundation. The dreamer has concluded that 
the dream is not nonsense. It was the source of a secret commu- 
nication and a great psychic unburdening. 

3 A common expression of ill-will in Austria, equivalent to the English, 
" The devil take you ! " Trans. 



94 WILHELM STEKEL 

Is this dream analysis complete ? No professor of dream inter- 
pretation could say for sure. We have uncovered the upper strata 
of the dream material. His love for the immature girl and the 
death wish about her mother. We have brought up fragments from 
the deep layers, the doubt of his origin, which was brought out as 
his doubt about the repetition of the dream. 

A further research into the secrets of the dream affords a longer 
working with this dream' For the dreamer is a neurotic, who has 
applied to me in order to become cured of an unbearable anxiety, 
insomnia and slight melancholia; it is certainly our duty to go into 
the deeper layers. We note already, he is afraid of himself and his 
secret thoughts ; he does not sleep because in imagination he is always 
unfortunate in his sexual experiences ; he suffers from depression, 
because he renounces a strong wish (to possess a maiden). 

We continue our work. We lead the dreamer on step by step 
and bring him to further associations. It appears that each word 
still has many determinations. The analysis has lasted already a 
week and we are not yet finished. The whole neurosis is contained 
in the dream. This is peculiarly the rule. The dream is a micro- 
scopic world, which reproduces in miniature the whole psychic world. 

I would have to write a whole book, the story of his life and of 
his neurosis, in order to explain the dream. 4 I shall only mention 
two examples of the remarkable condensation of the dream. They 
are the words " Mechanic " and " Dent." 

He has a lot of material to relate to me about a mechanic. He 
himself is a mechanic. He makes his affair with his mistress purely 
mechanical. He has to imagine himself with the daughter to have 
an erection. (This is the substance of his anxiety neurosis.) A 
mechanic repaired a wheel for him once badly. It was almost use- 
less. He tripped and lay for several weeks in a hospital. Now his 
wife has such a bad wheel. She ought to trip and lose her life so 
that he is free. She has an inguinal hernia and an osteopath (me- 
chanic) had taken her measure. He was jealous at that time. To- 
day he doesn't care a bit. On the contrary he would be happy if 
she would console herself. Nevertheless, his mistrust breaks 
through the dream. His mistress likewise has had a number of 
lovers. She deceives him (there are a number of workmen who 
stand at tables). He has the right to hold himself blameless. 

4 1 shall carry out this idea sometime — a supplement to this work, which 
only considers the surface of the dream; an analysis which is complete and — 
as far as this is possible — contains all overdeterminations and relations. 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 95 

Still in connection with mechanics there occurs to him a young 
typesetter who impressed him very favorably. He is so skillful that 
he can repair a part of the wheel better than a mechanic. The type- 
setter appeared to him to be a homosexualist. For he was never 
with a woman. He always blushes when he meets him. He wishes 
to exchange his loved one for the typesetter. The typesetter is 
called " Wilhelm " the same as the German Kaiser. 

Thus we see two things already fulfilled in our progress. We 
have discovered the death symbol and bisexuality. We are still 
always in the upper strata. 

Further investigations uncover also associations of onanism : The 
dreamer calls his penis " The Machine " in contradiction to his mis- 
tresses. He suffers from premature ejaculation, especially when 
the charm of the object is inferior. It is only a comparative pre- 
mature ejaculation, like most of this variety. Several months ago 
he was alone with an old woman who was not very good looking. 
Matters came to a coitus ; he played the underneath part. 5 Then he 
was amazed at his virility. He was able to satisfy the lady three 
times, and she, who had a large experience, told him that she had 
never met with such manly vigor before in her life. 6 When young 
he was a constant onanist. He masturbated indeed continuously 
from his eighth to his eighteenth year. Then for several years fol- 
lowing he was psychically impotent. He had read in a work that 
masturbation was the cause of impotence. He is therefore the 
mechanic who has ruined the work of his machine. He has made 
a dent in himself. Therefore he thinks now more charitably about 
his first wife. She became untrue to him because he could not sat- 
isfy her. Thus she has to take a " crowd of workmen " instead of 
the mechanic. 

About mechanics there occurs to him also a mechanic " Schneider " 
who once had an affair with a Stampiglie (Penis!) and on that 
account was christened Stampiglius. He is skinny and was often 
ridiculed when young on account of his lack of weight. He always 
seemed to be weak. He was impotent because he was too weak. 
He envied large, strong men (Schlager, a fighter) who could 
" stamp " (stempeln) properly. Here comes to notice the sense of 

5 That is called in Vienna, " To make a boy." I don't know for what 
reason. 

6 That is worthy of note! It is this way with most psychic impot'ency. 
When it comes to a specifically adequate satisfaction, then the psychic im- 
potency disappears. 



96 WILHELM STEKEL 

inferiority on which Adler justly lays such great weight. But from 
Schneider a vein goes back into youth and reveals a series of dis- 
honesties, which he had committed. He was a liar, thief and forger 
in his youth and developed into an extremely moral man ; a model 
of truth, honor and propriety. 

His thefts were mostly from his father. He never remembered 
having stolen from his mother. Here we come upon the great oppo- 
sition to his father. ... A scene appears suddenly to him! His 
father had surprised him and given him a sound drubbing with 
hand and foot. His father had struck him blindly and cried : " You 
misguided boy. You will certainly end in jail or on the gallows ! " 
We notice that the " dear old man " is intended ironically. For he 
is indeed the striker (Schlager) and would not have dared to speak 
cut such a prophecy. ("You can say what you like.") Besides he 
is dead from apoplexy (Herzschlag). His younger brother had 
dealt him a blow (Schlag) in the stomach. He lost consciousness 
for a second. 7 

Now for the first time it appears that another sexual object of 
his childhood, his brother, is concealed behind the young compositor. 

Yet we cannot pursue the subject further. We will only give 
several associations of dent (Krampe) as best we can. His mistress 
suffers from spasms of the heart (Herzkrampfen). It occurs to 
him that he has sold the old rubbish in the yard (Bodenkram) . Also 
his mistress is old rubbish (Krampel). Still more significant is the 
approach (Rampe) to the university which was destroyed during 
the last riot. He envied young people in those days. . . . Yes, who 
could fight and carouse. There occurred to him a girl named 
Kramer, whom he had often kissed in secret. Later she became a 
light woman. He has always a marked fancy for light women. He 
has in that matter a loose system of morals. He is not narrow- 
minded like a shopkeeper (Kramer). From shopkeeper an asso- 
ciation leads to Kramer, as an admirer of his sister was called. 
Now something significant occurs to him. His sister suffered when 
young from severe cramps (Krampfen) at her menstruation. He 
was at that time seven years old and was sent for the doctor. In the 
house lived a grocer (Kramer) who had a son named Wilhelm, who 
said to him, "Tell your sister she ought to let the business be brushed 
out by me. I have a little ' brush.' " His wife had bought herself 

7 The most important root is the criminal. He is not an energetic, vig- 
orous man, otherwise he would slay (erschlagen) the old "Krampe" (Vien- 
nese expression for an old horse). He wishes to be the slayer (Schlager). 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 97 

a little brush several days before for cleaning her wheel. A little 
brush is his penis, with whose size he is very much dissatisfied 
unjustly. 

Now a number of scenes from his earliest childhood occur to 
him. One from later years. He was sixteen years old when he 
sneaked at night to the servant girl. His mother woke up and 
asked where he was going. He answered stammeringly that he had 
been "outside," he had such violent cramps in the stomach (Bauch- 
krampfe) . Then his poor mother got up and made him warm appli- 
cations. As she did so, he saw her astonishing large legs. . . . 

But enough of this analysis. I believe that the reader has been 
more than convinced that with a symbolic translation only one mean- 
ing of the dream can be brought out and that the most important 
material is to be had from the dreamer himself. Also bear this in 
mind, that the symbol does not have to mean the same thing invari- 
ably. It has a marked individual meaning in every case. 

Bishop Synesios, a noted investigator of dreams of the fourth 
century, says very strikingly : 

" There are people who create little dictionaries about dream in- 
terpretation. I, for my part, laugh at all this argument and hold it 
to be completely worthless. The imagination of man is not as easily 
classified as the build and the physiognomy of the body — which can 
always form the subject of a general scientific observation. 

"If a Phemonoe or a Melampus or some one else ventures to 
pose as an expounder of universal laws of dream interpretation I 
might ask if then both concave and convex lenses or mirrors out of 
different materials reflect objects in the same way, for everyone has 
individual attributes and it is impossible that the same dream picture 
should have for all of them the same meaning." (Cod. Theodos, 
XVI, 10/17. Edikt von Jahre 392.) 

I can only confirm these words. All symbolism is relative and 
applies only to the great majority of cases. Exceptions are always 
possible even though they seldom occur. 

In many cases the knowledge of the case history aids us to un- 
derstand the dream. 

I shall give here an interesting series of criminal dreams of a 
single night which I could interpret without the aid of the dreamer. 

(584) "I was tying a bouquet of autumn leaves together, then I 
had a wonderfully pretty red rose that I wanted to put with it, but 
while I was tying them together all the pe'tals but one fell off and 
then that fell off too. Afterwards I brought the bouquet to a lady 
and thought they belonged in this vase." 



98 WILHELM STEKEL 

(585) "Hans was sick. Dr. St.'s maid was bathing his abdo- 
men, but I rinsed out his genitals in the tea in his father's tea cup. 
They appeared like a heart and kidneys and were held together by 
means of shreds of fat. While I was rinsing them out I was think- 
ing that the ligament would tear." 

(586) "Papa lay sick in bed and this had to be made up while 
he lay in it. Supplement: Papa was sitting up in bed; he appeared 
miserable and had a large dirty white counterpane under his body." 

(587) " The maid brought me a note which had been lying in the 
Utter box. On the paper was: ' Shary was with us at home to-day.' 
Dr. St. had had a prescription in the pharmacy. The paper gave me 
the impression that Dr. St. wanted to tell me that something from 
me was with you." 

(588) "I went out. The pharmacist met me, he looked like 
uncle Fred and kissed me affedtionately." 

(589) "Later I went into the forest. There I came across 
Trude and Erich who had been in the forest with the pharmacist." 

(59°) "I was sick an d to °k a, bath. I said to mother, 'I hope 
it is nothing serious,' but then I said in Muller you are advised to 
bathe." 

(591) "Looking out from my room I saw people swimming. 
Near me was my bed uncovered." 

(592) " I ran across the fields to the people in the houses. All 
the time I was doing this I was losing my underskirt. Then I saw 
Dr. St. with his wife and children on the street and then she passed 
me and I thought if she only wouldn't see that I was losing my 
skirts." 

The dreamer, a woman, presented these nine dreams ; not one 
of them have any basis. I know the facts of her sexual life. She 
loves only married men and pictures herself circumstances which 
free them so that she can marry them. 

In the transfer I am the last ideal in a long series which has its 
origin in her father. The last dream (No. 592) showed me that she 
has the idea she is losing her skirts. 

My wife and children appeared her last obstacle to happiness. 
Her thoughts and endeavors are all towards removing this obstacle. 
How does she picture that in the dream? Dreams 590 and 591 ex- 
plain this. She bathes during the time of her period because it is 
recommended in Muller ( Geschlechtsmoral und Lebensgliick). 

An association came to me. A bath during menstruation — is a 
blood bath. In the next dream, 591, the people swim. Of course — 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 99 

they swim in blood. Nearby her bed stands uncovered. The blood 
bath means to her a bridal bed. 

Still bloodier are the phantasies in the dreams 585 and 589. The 
two children in the forest are common occurrences in fairy tales. 
From former analyses I knew that the fairy tale about Snow White 
had played an important role in her phantasy. At once the scene 
occurred to me where the hunter is to cut out the intestines of poor 
Snow White so that the bad queen could eat them. (Necrophilic 
instinct!) The whole dream is a frequent occurrence and charac- 
teristic of the most unbelievable sadistic fancies. 

Every bouquet in her dreams is a funeral wreath. This holds 
good here. The bouquet of leaves and the leafless rose in dream 584 
represent a death wish whose red color refers to the blood bath. 
My wife was to receive this ominous present while my children were 
sent out of the world by the druggist. (The messenger of death!) 
In dream 589 my son Erich becomes identified with her brother 
Hans, to whom was assigned the same fate as poor Snow White in 
consequence of her boundless jealousy. She tore asunder the band 
which bound her to him ; she also tore asunder the band which bound 
her beloved man to another; also she allowed her father to die in 
her fancy because he stood in the way of her plans (586). 

The next dream (587) brings the romantic criminal fancy of a 
secret agreement between her and me. I did away with my wife. 
Prescription and pharmacist usually form a poison complex. This 
interpretation I explained to her (zettel). The last dream is cer- 
tainly 588; there the goal is attained. The dearly beloved uncle 
(uncle instead of pharmacist) both are in this dream and in the 
minds of evil-minded people — poison-mixers. 

The physician and the pharmacist are also symbols of death. She 
suffers a just punishment and receives the kiss of death. She strug- 
gles continuously with suicidal impulses. 

Further analysis of this case confirms the complete truth of this 
dream interpretation which was possible to me only through the 
knowledge of the history of her illness. The association of the 
blood bath furnished the key. 

That was a dream with an individual symbolism which one not 
acquainted with it could scarcely have seen through. The next 
dream shows a quite typical symbolism. In many dream interpre- 
tations we can quickly discover the sense of a dream with the help 
of symbolism. A further progress depends upon the associations of 
the dreamer. A short dream may require a complicated analysis. 
A long dream often leads back to a single thought. 



100 WILHELM STEKEL 

We present for illustration of this fact two dreams. The one 
very long and the other fragmentary of which only two words 
remain. The long dream is by Dame Frau Alpha and runs : 

(593) " The scene of the action: The new Armory at Schott en- 
ring. A large, handsome room filled with a number of gymnastic 
and electrical apparatus. Dr. Hochstetter was standing in scanty 
attire on a sort of an automatic weighing machine and made a mock- 
ing face just like a bad child who says 'I am not going to play any 
more.' The doctor goes to him and says, 'For shame, doctor, you 
behave yourself like a bad boy.' No use — Dr. Hochstetter con- 
tinues to be stubborn. As I observed the culprit closer I noticed 
that he had nothing on but a pair of spotlessly clean pants and a 
dirty, flimsy shirt that would almost stand alone, and that had be- 
sides numberless spots and tears. Next I also noticed that he didn't 
have buttons on his linen. I think to myself how disgusting this 
Dr. Hochstetter is, and closer observation made him look consider- 
ably more so. At that I looked down at myself and noticed that I 
was not properly clothed, without being the least embarrassed. I 
dressed myself calmly; with that I fell to the floor. They asked me 
why I cried so at this, whereupon I answered, ' The whole left half 
of my body hurts me so! They laughed and it is very surprising to 
me that I said the word left for this means something unheard 
of. I corrected myself quickly, 'perhaps the right, I don't know.' 
Thereupon I finished dressing myself. They talked for a while 
with my husband and explained all the many apparatuses to him. 
Then you sit down and unpack a newly arrived apparatus, whereat 
you explain that you will use it on me. 'Will it do me good?' I 
asked, to which you answer, 'I tell you in such cases electricity 
really works marvels. I electrify all my patients before I discharge 
them from the cure.' I asked you then why Dr. Hochstetter stands 
up there so pugnaciously on his pedestal. ' Why, he is being electri- 
fied,' you say; ' Yes, but,' I ask, ' does he have to be undressed for 
it? ' ' Of course, because he has silk lining in his clothes; that would 
interfere,' was the answere I received. Strange that a man with silk 
lining in his clothes should have such underclothes. With that I 
woke up." 

For the experienced this dream explains itself. The lady wishes 
to give up the psychoanalysis. Before that she wants to receive 
electrical treatment. The new apparatus with which she wishes to 
be worked upon is a new apparatus to her, my penis. Already poor 
Dr. Hochstetter serves to symbolize this conceived wish. (Hoch- 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION IOI 

stetter = Hoch steht er = he stands on high.) The opposition of 
Dr. Hochstetter, his filth, are remonstrances which are directed 
toward me. Then one observes the awful power of my phallus 
which continues a very long time pugnaciously on the apparatus. 

At the close the hitherto passable logic suffers a shock. To the 
question, why Dr. Hochstetter had to be undressed follows the 
absurd answer, because he had silk lining; that would interfere. 
We besought the lady to explain this passage to us. She was silent 
awhile for she imagined this part of the dream was senseless and 
absurd. 

According to Freud, in this criticism lies an important affect of 
the dream material. 

" Thus the dream is made absurd if there occurs as one of the 
elements in the dream thoughts the judgment ' That is nonsense/ 
and in general if disdain and criticism are the motives for one of 
the trains of unconscious thought. Hence absurdity becomes one of 
the means by which the dream activity expresses contradiction, as it 
does by reversing a relation in the material between the dream 
thoughts and dream content, and by utilizing sensations of motor 
impediment. But absurdity in the dream is not simply to be trans- 
lated by 'no,' but is rather intended to reproduce the disposition of 
the dream thoughts, this being to show mockery and ridicule along 
with the contradiction. It is only for this purpose that the dream 
activity produces anything ridiculous. Here again it transforms a 
part of the latent content into a manifest form." 

And in another place : 

" Thus my solution of the problem of the absurdity of dreams is 
that the dream thoughts are never absurd — at least not those belong- 
ing to the dreams of sane persons — and that the dream activity pro- 
duces absurd dreams and dreams with individual absurd elements, 
if criticism, ridicule, and derision in the dream thoughts are to be 
represented by it in its manner of expression. My next concern is 
to show that the dream activity is primarily brought about by the 
cooperation of the three factors which have been mentioned — and 
of a fourth one which remains to be cited — that it accomplishes 
nothing short of a transposition of the dream thoughts, observing 
the three conditions which are prescribed for it, and that the ques- 
tion whether the mind operates in the dream with all its faculties, or 
only with a portion of them, is deprived of its cogency and is inap- 
plicable to the actual circumstances. But since there are plenty of 
dreams in which judgments are passed, criticisms made, and facts 



102 WILHELM STEKEL 

recognized, in which astonishment at some single element of the 
dream appears, and arguments and explanations are attempted, I 
must meet the objections which may be inferred from these occur- 
rences by the citation of selected examples." 

" My answer is as follows : Even-thing in the dream which occurs 
as an apparent exercise of the critical faculty is to be regarded, not 
as an intellectual accomplishment of the dream activity, but as be- 
longing to the material of the dream thoughts, and it has found its 
way from them as a finished structure to the manifest dream con- 
tent. I may go even further than this. Even the judgments which 
are passed upon the dream as it is remembered after awakening and 
the feelings which are aroused by the reproduction of the dream, 
belong in good part to the latent dream content, and must be fitted 
into their place in the interpretation of the dream." (The Inter- 
pretation of Dreams, p. 351.) 

"We now ask the dreamer to pay attention so that she can notice 
especially the reproaches which appear ridiculous in connection with 
this passage. "We could draw out nothing about this because the 
dreamer will not understand. In this last hour (it is one of her 
last dreams) she does not wish to listen. 

"We can now fully understand the meaning of the reproach. It 
is directed against me. She supposes that I have desired ardently 
through the whole course of the psychoanalysis (permanent erec- 
tion). Xow she says to me, "Why that is absurd, that is simply 
ridiculous ; you know what sort of a treatment would help me, then 
help me." s 

And the association to silken lining. She presents no associa- 
tions. From earlier dreams, I know her vacillations between ardent 
sexual desire (silken lining) and strict continence (designation for 
soiled linen) . We can also hazard the guess : Futt, etc., but it re- 
mains a guess. It only occurred to me later that this place signified 
abuse, reviling of my rightful lining. At any rate the whole dream 
is useless for the knowledge of the deeper strata because the material 
is withheld. 

We bring out only the superficial relations ; how altogether dif- 
ferent is the analysis of the next dream. The dreamer, Mr. B. D., 
tells us he had when he woke up only two words in his ear, " snake " 
and " Mesopotamia." He produced his associations immediately. 
In Mesopotamia was paradise. It must also have reference to the 

8 I refer to the eunuch's dream, in which this patient, out of revenge, 
because I have not done as she desired, made me impotent by castration. 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 103 

female genitals, for Meso in the years of his youth called the vagina 
this. The Euphrates and the Tiber form a delta which reminds one 
of the legs of a woman. 

Further associations cease to flow. I call his attention to the 
connection between snake and paradise. It certainly deals largely 
with original sin. Yesterday he hesitated for the space of a moment 
whether he should go to a prostitute ; finally he did not do it. Fur- 
thermore he was pious for a long time ; now he is a free thinker. 
He is not able by himself to present further associations to the 
two words. I now ask him to construct a sentence in which both 
words occur. He is unable to do it and says "It can't be done." 
"Another question occupies me much more. I am always thinking 
whether there are any snakes at all in Mesopotamia — whether the 
snakes belong to Mesopotamia. I believe they were first discovered 
in India." In border India or interior India. (Literally, Front 
India or Back India, Trans.) 

We set about the construction of a sentence. He says : " The 
snake is the source of all evil " and " In Mesopotamia, at one time, 
Paradise was supposed to lie." 

We notice that he returns to his religious complex. He tells us 
with what interest he read a small illustrated Bible history. He is 
reminded of pictures and suddenly of a scene at a christening. He 
was seven years old ; a lady sang a couplet at the christening of his 
sister at a late hour, whose refrain caused great laughter to all those 
present. The refrain had clung to him tenaciously. It goes : 

"When Adam in the apple bit, 
From very fear ... his trousers split." 

That occupied him a great deal at that time. What does the 
apple mean ? Did the good Lord drive mankind out of Paradise on 
account of such an act of foolishness? Was that not too severe? 
Then he was silent and his associations failed. 

We have noticed that he could not compose a sentence with 
" snake " and " Mesopotamia." We return to this doubt. The 
doubt has to do apparently only deliberately with the propagation of 
the serpent. 

" You mean," he says suddenly, " that I do not know where my 
penis belongs ? Whether I ought to go to women or men ? Border 
or Interior India ? " (Vide supra.) 

So he himself gives the explanation, the while he supposes it to 
me. But the analysis is not yet finished. It is diverted to the word 



104 WILHELM STEKEL 

" Mesopotamia." He begins to explain it in French. Pot became 
chamber. He thinks immediately of chamber pot. A number of 
scenes occur to him from the paradise-like condition of childhood 
where all were in one room before each other and were not ashamed. 
He saw different things and distinguished various noises. He con- 
jectured as to the size of an opening from the loudness of the noise. 
He set about his phallic studies at home and in the toilet and arrived 
finally at the question whether " amien " could have a meaning. He 
analyzed " a mien," " la mienne " my people (f.), and " la mien " my 
people (m.). Yet, the most important of all, he failed to see (ami 
= the friend). That, of course, "amien" contains the anxious 
question? Man or woman? (Where does the snake belong? 
Border or Interior India? Front or back. Un ami or une amie?) 

Finally it occurs to him that Amiens is a city in France, in which 
the Maid of Orleans was born. (The typical bisexual symbol — as 
the Amazons and the Valkyries : the woman with the lance.) That 
proved to be a false memory. He has forgotten that there occurred 
a fierce battle between the English and the French. The two na- 
tions represent to him the " pure morals " and the " lax morals." 
Paris is for him a Babel of sin. . . . The angel triumphs over the 
devil. But the most important (association) about Amiens is that 
there General Manteufel struck the French on the head. He had 
known this very well and quite forgotten it for the minute. 

We come to the answer : Man is for him the devil. He is afraid 
of homosexuality. He is pure concerning women because they do 
not appeal to him. 

We have been able to form weighty conclusions out of insignifi- 
cant material, out of two words, 9 while the long dream of the gym- 
nastic apparatus does not lead us nearly so deep into the problem 
of the neurosis. 

Often dreamers bring only a single word, that they have retained 
out of a dream. Such an example is the word "Ronacher," the 
name of a Viennese pleasure establishment. The analysis showed 
that it stood for " Acheron " and " Charon " and in addition served 
to symbolize fear of hell and its punishments. 

This coining of words meets with the greatest opposition on the 
part of the uninitiated. And Artemidoros relates a classical in- 
stance that was famed a thousand years ago. " It seems to me," he 
says, " that Aristandros gave a fortunate interpretation to Alexander 

9 Compare my analysis of an example of a slip of the tongue in Zentral- 
blatt fur Psychoanalyse, 1910, Heft 1-2. 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 105 

of Macedonia. When he had shut in and beleaguered Tyre and on 
account of this great loss of time was depressed and moody of coun- 
tenance, he saw a satyr dancing on his shield ; by chance Aristandros 
found himself in the vicinity of Tyre and in the presence of the king 
who was besieging the Tyrians. When he separated the word Satyr 
into 2a and Tupos (Tyre is yours), he brought it to pass that the king 
took the siege aggressively in hand, so that he became the master of 
the city." 

To-day, 2,200 years after, we are obliged to return to the genial 
technique of Aristandros. Examples of this same art are not lack- 
ing in this book. The methods of dream interpretation are more 
varied than one would believe. 

The associations of the dreamer, his conversation, his affects, his 
reservations, his opposition and his agreements all belong to the 
dream material. A knowledge of symbolism is absolutely neces- 
sary because one can call the dreamer's attention to many of them 
and thereby lead to a more thorough analysis : The more convinced 
the dreamer is of the art of dream interpretation, the more willingly 
does he set about the work of interpretation. Complete knowledge 
of the language of dreams is indispensable to convince the dreamer. 
Moreover, no dream can be interpreted with the best associations 
without adequate technique. The psychoanalyst receives only raw 
material. He must be able to make out of that the corresponding 
picture. 

Also we have learned to know the different structure of the 
dream. The dream of the " Gymnastic apparatus in the office 
hours " is a dream fantasy, which portrays the repetition of a 
perhaps consciously constructed day-dream in the mind of the 
dreamer. She shows only a minimal secondary elaboration as Freud 
calls the rationalizing activity of the dream. The dream endeavors 
by moulding and reinforcing to make sense out of nonsense. But 
this secondary elaboration according to my view must not be under- 
estimated. Like the hysterical symptom or the obsession it betrays 
exactly as much of the suppressed material as it wishes to conceal. 
The dreamer of the apparatus dream has not given herself the trou- 
ble to undertake a secondary elaboration. The dreamer of the two 
words, however, whose dream shows a thorough secondary elabo- 
ration, had himself been anxious not to hinder an interpretation. 
Two words by themselves could hardly overcome the opposition of 
the unconscious and penetrate into the conscious. 

Of course, dream interpretation is much easier, the longer one 



106 WJLHELM STEKEL 

works with a dream at analysis; certain symbols reappear; the 
method of dream formation is as a rule typical and shows few vari- 
ations with a simple nature ; one recognizes the earmark of his most 
important object of love; one recognizes his conflicts and can pick 
them out much easier. The first dreams are always the most diffi- 
cult. (Cf. the chapter, "First Dreams.") If an interpretation 
fails, one need not be disappointed. The theme reappears in many 
variations until the interpretation is successful. I have already 
mentioned that all too many dreams are many times signs of oppo- 
sition and only serve the purpose of occupying the psychoanalyst and 
leading him away from the important complex. One can guard 
one's self against this if one consistently remains with the one dream 
or disregards the dreams entirely. Now many patients reveal an 
incredible facility in the manufacture of interesting dreams, which 
appear to be capable of an exact interpretation. They bring the 
dream, explanation and confession which the analyst solicits. One 
is easily led astray, then, to explain and soon finds himself in a blind 
alley. The skilled analyst can scarcely distinguish there whether 
he is the dupe or the wise man ... in such cases it pays to remain 
with one dream until it goes absolutely no further. . . . 

Many times, however, the dream gives a long-desired explana- 
tion. It explains for us a previous dream. 10 In short, it serves in 
place of an interpretation. How interesting it is, e. g., that the 
dreamer in the "electric machine dream" corrects herself and 
changes the left side into the right. The difference between left 
and right she has already learned from me. She applied this knowl- 
edge in order to indicate her wish. She wishes to be united to me 
legally. Then a dream also can make us observant of a fault in 
the dream interpretation and the psychoanalysis. I shall give such 
an example here because it makes us familiar with the technique of 
the neurotic. It shows us how the unconscious does not always 
reveal itself frankly, but will allow itself to be caught. We are 
reminded of the play of the bride robber. The bridegroom must 
first conquer his bride. Thus the unconscious also demands that the 
doctor himself shall solve the riddle. Otherwise what is he a dream 
interpreter for? Fraulein Etha dreams. 

(.594) "I came back from the country with Bruno into our 
former town residence. There a large, blonde Frenchwoman was 
waiting and gave him lessons and with whom he had an affair. He 

10 Cf. the admirable dream analysis by Otto Rank : " A dream, which 
explains itself." Jahrbuch II, 2, 1910. 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 107 

presented me to her as his cousin and left us there alone awhile. 
The French woman was very sad and appeared to me to be jealous. 
She was quite sympathetic to me and I thought: ' Why, then, is this 
cousin comedy necessary ? If I told her that I was his sister, she 
would be just as well satisfied.' But I did not wish to do it against 
his will. Then Bruno came back again and the French woman said: 
' Are you near relations f ' Yes,' I cried, laughing. 'We resemble 
each other very much. We have the same hands, the same profiles,' 
and thought: 'Now she will catch on.' But she noticed nothing. 
Then I went happily and quietly to my room and lay down to sleep. 
Curious that I am so happy, I thought. Dr. Stekel will certainly 
say: Because I feel myself free now that Bruno has an affair. 

II. " Then I saw a garden with several persons, and then I was 
in the hall of a home, lying rigidly on an opened wardrobe and await- 
ing death. My limbs were fixed, but my head whirled around and 
I thought: ' Mimi is dead now, too, she can tell me how it is/ and 
I dreaded an intense pain and thought it must be a feeling like when 
one is hung and all the blood rushes forcibly to the head. I wished, 
nevertheless, to force death, but it did not come; then for the present 
I gave up the thought of dying." 

This dream came after a series of dreams, which I could not in- 
terpret. We know already : The dreamer has had different things 
to do with her brother. But the teacher of the children was a 
Frenchwoman. I ought then to recognize that the Frenchwoman is 
also her teacher. That is to be sure from the secondary elaboration. 
This dream should inform me that she expects from me an entirely 
different treatment than the psychoanalytic. She loves me and I do 
not observe it. For that she is happy. But happy people do not 
wish to die. I treat her as a sister. She wishes, however, to be 
treated as a stranger. She does not wish, moreover, to tell anything 
about her true relations with her brother. She was more than a 
sister to him. 

By this dream the experience with the brother and the French- 
woman were brought to light. I recognized immediately that the 
reproach, " But she noticed nothing," was a home thrust at me. Fi- 
nally the dream thoughts have to do with what Dr. St. will say. 
She desires to free herself from these things. 

The end appears to be a defloration fantasy, which pictures itself 
in death (stiff limb, intense pain. Mimi is her Mama, who could 
tell her how it is). 

The dream warns me of the transfer; reproaches me, that I do 



108 WILHELM STEKEL 

not notice her; reproaches, that I did not interpret the last dream 
correctly. It gives the correct one after a few unfortunate interpre- 
tations. Yes, it forces the right interpretation (forcibly — forces — I 
did not wish to do it against his will, etc. ) . 

The objection that one places something in the dream which was 
not contained in it, is disposed of by such examples: The dreamer 
does not accept the false interpretation. Do not misunderstand me. 
Very many interpretations are rejected by the dreamer. But the 
next dream brings a new confirmation of the same. Or the dreamer 
brings other material that proves just the thing which he disputed 
so strenuously before. 

If an interpretation is wrong, then there comes a subsequent 
dream which teaches us better. The danger of accepting false inter- 
pretations is not too great if one lets himself be guided by the 
dreamer. But there are exceptions. I know overly clever persons 
who from conscious or unconscious motives hinder the work of in- 
terpretation through associations fantastically constructed, or where 
a superficially associated wealth of material makes a passage into 
the depths illusory. 

Finally, all dream interpretation depends upon the self-knowl- 
edge of the analyst. I have seen intelligent colleagues who could 
not interpret simple dreams. 

Every psychoanalyst has also his individual complexes for which 
he has then no understanding in the psychoanalysis, if they have not 
become known to him. I call this phenomenon, " The psycho- 
analytical skotoma." It is therefore necessary to learn one's own 
dream analysis and in the first line to know oneself. 

We are all no better than dreamers ! This knowledge ought to 
lighten our way through the darkness of the false passages of 
dreams. Moreover, we are thrown into life with a breast full of 
hate and have with difficulty overcome our wild desires and instincts. 
Then, too, we first must need to learn love. That is the great knowl- 
edge which I have gained through my work with dreams. Hate is 
instinctive in human beings. Incest love or love which appears to 
us to be incest love, if it becomes fixed through overmastering reac- 
tion to the emotion of hatred should teach the child to overcome the 
hate. The child learns from his home life. He learns to control 
the criminal in himself, not alone from fear of a higher power; No ! 
For love of good, beauty, from ethical motives. Then his sexual 
desire which accordingly is kept in bounds by all other emotions 
renders him the worthiest service. 



THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 109 

The meaning of the criminal in persons is explained by this book. 
For cure of a neurosis a knowledge of the " inner criminal " is posi- 
tively necessary. What could easier unmask him than the art of 
the dream interpreter ? 

The interpretation of dreams affords long years of study and 
practice. Not every one is equal to this work. It is the task of an 
artist and cannot become mechanical. The psychoanalyst must be 
able to place himself in the unconscious of a dreamer. He must be 
able to think with him and like him. 

Then come lightning-like revelations and connections which 
have something of inspiration in them. Then the dream interpre- 
tation is a " Miterleben." That is certainly the most difficult task 
after that of the priest. 

We must be able to rejoice and suffer with our patients. Their 
pains must be our pains. Their deliverance from the bonds of a 
neurosis our deliverance. By this difficult task the dream interpre- 
tation renders an invaluable service. If my work can help psycho- 
analysts and similarly employed colleagues, then is its mission ful- 
filled. 



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